HERZLIYA, Israel, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- Egyptian natural gas deliveries to Israel are expected to resume no later than Friday, the American Israel Corp. announced Monday.
The supply of natural gas from Egypt to Israel was suspended in early February when an explosion damaged a gas pipeline.
Israel gets enough gas from Egypt through a pipeline from el-Arish to Ashkelon to meet 20 percent of its electricity needs.
The company said it was notified that the Egyptian Natural Gas Co. that repair work on the pipeline system was under way. Testing of the system was set for Tuesday and commercial delivery was set for no later than Friday.
Israel and its European allies are looking at the Leviathan and Tamar natural gas fields about 80 miles off the coast of Israel as an alternative to foreign supplies.
Noble Energy announced a "significant" gas discovery in December at the Leviathan field in the deep waters of the Mediterranean Sea.
The potential at Leviathan follows the 2009 discovery of the Tamar gas field off the Israeli coast, which holds around 8 trillion cubic feet of gas.
Lebanon contends that a portion of Leviathan lies within its maritime borders.
